In a Knights Templar village with a backdrop of imposing Cross Fell mountain, a Georgian mansion and converted coach house are home to a personable small hotel.

Far from the hurrying world, this former coaching Iinn stands amid Wordsworth’s northern Lakes.

‘This continues to be a very dependable oasis,’ writes a trusted reader and regular visitor to this country house hotel (Relais & Châteaux), between the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage site.

Warm hospitality, centuries-old architecture and ‘beautiful countryside’ again delighted loyal fans of this ‘exceptionally good-value oasis of peace and tranquillity.’

‘A lovely place to stay,’ writes a reader in 2018, of this popular old inn. On the banks of the River Hodder, it has views to the Forest of Bowland.

For almost 120 years, the Baldry family have welcomed guests to their ancient farmhouse overlooking Lake Ullswater. ‘Wonderfully old-fashioned’ or ‘lost in time’, it’s a Marmite sort of hotel

A babbling brook etches a course past Louise Dinnes’s ‘good-value, thoroughly dependable’ Victorian pub-with-rooms, where visitors find ‘outstanding food’ and ‘welcoming, efficient service’.

A ‘wonderful hot tub in the grounds’ is one of the unexpected delights of Hazel Thompson’s B&B in the Vale of Lorton, close to Loweswater, Buttermere and Crummock Water.

Cumbrian comforts abound at this ‘well-kept’ Edwardian country house hotel, in three-acre grounds in a ‘beautiful setting’ in the Borrowdale valley.

An unpretentious, gabled Arts and Crafts country house has ‘tantalising’ views of Lake Windermere and Coniston Fells.

In a ‘superb position on the marine parade’, this ‘Art Deco wonder’ was restored to its former glory by the small English Lakes group.

‘Such a comfortable place.’ ‘Peaceful and restful.’ ‘Great hotel.’ Several of our readers are regulars at Glynis and Simon Wood’s family-run Lakeland village hotel in the Wordsworth heartlands.

‘It’s difficult to pinpoint what makes this hotel so special.’ Atop a winding driveway, this Gothic pile is ‘light, airy, full of boutiquey charm – and, naturally, has delightful views across Grasmere’.

In the Lyth valley, Becky and Ash Dewar’s 16th-century hostelry is a village pub ‘with a modern twist’.

Gerald and Margo Smith have created a gourmet destination in a lonely pub at a crossroads just to the south of the Scottish moors,’ write Guide inspectors this year.

Right at the water’s edge, Robert Lyons and Lesley Wheeler’s pub-with-rooms is ‘an amiable, comfortable place’ that draws regular returnees year after year.

Fell walkers, climbers – including some of Britain's greatest mountaineers – and sleepy travellers have sought this unpretentious, dog-friendly inn, in a ‘glorious setting’, for more than 300 years.

In the buzzing heart of the city, opposite the Philharmonic Hall, a Venetian palazzo facade conceals this contemporary hotel, ‘ideally placed’ for discovering the wonderful history and architecture.

‘Wonderfully old-fashioned’, the Read family’s traditional hotel ‘continues to tick all the right boxes’.

‘Glorious fell views’, ‘excellent food’ and ‘capable, obliging staff’ are found at this family-friendly spot at the foot of Skiddaw.

The sun and moon make their haste, but this 400-year-old inn near the river Lune remains a dependably restful spot for travellers, walkers and their dogs.

The views are ‘stunning’ from this privately owned, ivy-clad Victorian hunting lodge standing in large grounds above Lake Windermere, the panorama of fells stretching wide.

There are open fires here, and views of Skiddaw; the traditional chintz and prints are ‘part of the charm’, says a devotee in 2017.

‘Comfortable, warm and reliable,’ say readers this year, who stayed, on journeys north and south, at the Dunning family’s hotel with farm shop off the M6.